August 30, 2004

Redacting the Supreme Court

The following quotation is from a Supreme Court opinion - United States v. United States District Court for the Eastern Dist. of Mich., 407 U.S. 297, 314 (1972):

"The danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect 'domestic security.' Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent."

This passage was among those blacked out by the Justice Department from ACLU court filings pertaining to its lawsuit against the PATRIOT Act - for security reasons. Read more about this and see the contrasting passages, courtesy of The Memory Hole.